Attendance

School Attendance Law of 1963

School personnel must collect parents/guardian contact information and a signed agreement of the attendance policy upon enrollment into a public school. The attendance policy holds the parent accountable of ensuring their child will attend school regularly.

Charter Schools

Charter Schools

Enrollment in a charter school must be open to any child who resides within the school district.

In cases when enrollment is denied is when a charter school shall be required to make alterations in the structure of the facility used by the charter school or to make alterations to the arrangement or function of rooms within the facility, except as may be required by state or federal law.

Enrollment decisions shall be made in a nondiscriminatory manner specified by the charter school applicant in the charter school application, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services.

Denial of Admission

School Attendance Law of 1963

The School Attendance Law requires that every Colorado resident between ages 6 and 21 is entitled to attend public school in the district where he or she is a resident, except for a limited number of circumstances. The following may be grounds for denial of admission to a public school:

Physical or mental disability such that the child cannot reasonably benefit from the programs available;

Physical or mental disability or disease causing the attendance of the child suffering therefrom to be unfavorable to the welfare of other students.

Having been expelled from any school district during the preceding twelve months;

Not being a resident of the district

Any denial of admission for such failure to comply shall be recorded with the student's immunization record with an appropriate explanation.

English Language Proficiency

No Child Left Behind

The language proficiency exam must be administered within 30 days at the start of the school year for any student identified as a student whose first language is other than English and/or who is not proficient in English. If the student enrolls after the first 30 days of the school year, the student must be assessed within 2 weeks of arrival.

Extracurriculars

School District Boards

If a student transfers enrollment to another school without an accompanying change of address by the student's parent or legal guardian, the student's eligibility to participate in extracurricular activities at the new school of attendance shall be determined under the rules of participation adopted by the school district where the student now attends.

Homeless

School Attendance Law of 1963

The Homeless Child Liaison should be present when discussing placement of the homeless student. The school selected for a homeless child should immediately enroll the student even if the child lacks records normally required prior to enrollment.

The enrolling school shall immediately contact the school last attended by the homeless child to obtain any records necessary for enrollment.

If the homeless child's immunization record is incomplete or if the homeless child's immunization records are unavailable, the enrolling school shall arrange for such immunizations as necessary.

CASB Sample Policies Affected

JFABD*, Homeless Students

JFABD-R*, Homeless Students — Regulation

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance and Education Act

All children have the right to remain in their school of origin if in their best interest and feasible. Districts (LEA’s) and schools must enroll students in school immediately, including attending classes and participating fully in school activities, even if they lack documents that are typically required (e.g. birth certificate, immunization records).

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance and Education Act

Districts (LEA’s) and schools must immediately contact each other for records. Also, any record ordinarily kept by the school, including immunization or medical records, academic records, birth certificates, guardianship records, and evaluations for special services or programs, regarding each eligible child or youth shall be maintained so that the records are available, in a timely fashion, when a child or youth enters a new school or school district.

Homeschool

School Attendance Law of 1963

Any child who has participated in homeschool and who enrolls in the public school may be tested for the purpose of placing the child in the proper grade and shall then be placed at the grade level deemed most appropriate by said school district, with the consent of the child's parent or legal guardian.

CASB Sample Policies Affected

IHBG, Home Schooling

School Attendance Law of 1963

The school district shall accept the transcripts for credit from the homeschool educational program for the student who has enrolled into a public school who has previously participated in homeschool; except that the school district may reject such transcripts if the school district administers testing to such child and the testing does not verify the accuracy of the transcripts.

Migrant Mexican Youth

Migrant Mexican Youth

The major focus of the Binational Initiative is to develop, revise and promote the use of the Transfer Document. The student needs to provide a transfer document when he/she returns to the U.S. The Binational Program can retrieve student’s grades through a request for transcripts form that has been developed by the Binational Program and has been accepted by the U.S. and Mexico’s Binational Initiative.

Online School

Certification and Oversight of Colorado Online Programs

CCR 301-71 Rules for the Administration, Certification and Oversight of Colorado Online Programs

Summary of Impact

The State Board of Education's Rules for the Administration of Online Programs says that a student may enroll in an online school if the student and his/her parent/guardian is currently residing in Colorado, and evidence that they are residing (living) in Colorado may be established by documentation including, but not limited to property tax payments, rent payments, payment of utility bills, or a written statement from the parent/guardian declaring that the parent/guardian is a resident.

Notes

This is a very permissive rule that should allow students who are residents of Colorado (based on property taxes, income sources, or any of the other factors outlined in section 1-2-102) to enroll in an online school even if the student is temporarily absent from Colorado.

Tracking Students (District Level)

State Accountability

If a public school is restructured, the department, to the extent possible, shall track the students enrolled in the public school in the school year preceding the restructuring to determine whether the students reenroll in the public school the following school year or transfer to another public school of the school district, an institute charter school, or a public school of another school district in the state. The department shall provide the student tracking information, without personally identifying the students, to the local school board or the institute upon request.

Transportation (District Level)

General Provisions

This law allows low-income students in grades 1-8 in low-performing schools, as designated by the state, to use transportation tokens to attend a different school within their school district or a school within another school district, if the other school district agrees to accept such students.

Out-of-Home Placement Students

Requires that before a child/youth’s placement is changed, all parties must attempt to promote the child/youth’s educational stability that allows the child/youth to stay at the same school or find a new “educational situation that is comparable to the existing situation.

Out-of-Home Placement Students

Provides that when a student in an out-of-home placement transfers from one school to another, the district or school is to transfer the records after receiving a request for transfer and the receiving district or school is to immediately enroll the transferring student.

Education information and records of a student in out-of-home placement must be delivered to the student's new school within five school days after receiving a request for the transfer of the student's education information and records from a county department.

CASB Sample Policies Affected

JF-R, Admission and Denial of Admission (Procedures for Students in Out-of-Home Placements)

A school district or school in which a student in out-of-home placement is enrolled shall waive all fees that would otherwise be assessed against the student, including but not limited to any general fees, fees for books, fees for lab work, fees for participation in in-school or extracurricular activities, and fees for before-school or after-school programs.